The present invention relates generally to printing. Particularly, the present invention relates to the prioritization of print documents in order to conserve ink.
A typical inkjet printer has at least one ink pen that reciprocates over a printable surface such as a sheet of paper. The pen includes a print head having an array of numerous orifices through which droplets of ink are expelled onto the surface of a paper to generate a desired pattern. Color inkjet printers generally have either a multi-chamber cartridge or several ink pens, each cartridge or pen containing a different color of ink.
Typically, each pen is comprised of electronics that can communicate information about the contents of the pen to a computer that is coupled to the printer. This information can include the manufactured date, ink color, and/or the quantity of ink in the pen.
With the capability of networks and remote processing of transactions, a computer user can subscribe to an information service that automatically downloads information for printing. For example, Hewlett-Packard""s Instant Delivery service provides subscribers with automatic, periodic downloads of information that is printed. Additionally, a user may transmit a document from his office computer to a printer in another building or to his home printer. The user can then pick-up the document when he is in the vicinity of that particular printer.
A problem results when the printer is running low on ink and a print-job in the print queue requires more ink than is present in the printer. Normally, the printer would inform a directly coupled computer that it is running low or is out of ink. This enables the user to replace or refill the empty ink pen and continue printing. However, if the printer is remote to the computer, as described above, an alert message typically cannot be transmitted back to the user. When the user picks up the printout, it may be missing multiple pages due to the lack of ink. The user must then replace the ink and go back to his computer to reprint the print-job. If the printer is miles from the user""s computer, this could be very inconvenient. There is a resulting need for a way to ration an ink or toner supply according to the content of the document to be printed.
The present invention encompasses a method for rationing and an apparatus which rations an ink supply. A print job comprising print content is received and parsed before printing. If the print content is assigned a priority level, the print content is printed in a print mode that is appropriate for the priority level. If the print content is not assigned a priority level, the content is printed using a normal print mode.